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TEXT 17 atma-sambhavitah stabdha
SYNONYMS  atma-sambhavitah--self-complacent;
stabdhah--impudent; dhana-mana--wealth and false prestige;
mada anvitah--absorbed in pride; yajante--perform
sacrifices; nama--in name only; yajnaih--with such a sacrifice;
te--they; dambhena--out of pride; avidhi-purvakam--without
following any rules and regulations.
TRANSLATION Self-complacent
and always impudent, deluded by wealth and false prestige, they sometimes
perform sacrifices in name only without following any rules or regulations.
PURPORT Thinking themselves
all in all, not caring for any authority or scripture, the demoniac sometimes
perform so-called religious or sacrificial rites. And since they do not
believe in authority, they are very impudent. This is due to illusion caused
by accumulating some wealth and false prestige. Sometimes such demons take
up the role of preacher, mislead the people, and become known as religious
reformers or as incarnations of God. They make a show of performing sacrifices,
or they worship the demigods, or manufacture their own God. Common men
advertise them as God and worship them, and by the foolish they are considered
advanced in the principles of religion, or in the principles of spiritual
knowledge. They take the dress of the renounced order of life and engage
in all nonsense in that dress. Actually there are so many restrictions
for one who has renounced this world. The demons, however, do not care
for such restrictions. They think that whatever path one can create is
one's own path; there is no such thing as a standard path one has to follow.
The word avidhi-purvakam, meaning disregard for the rules and regulations,
is especially stressed here. These things are always due to ignorance and
illusion.
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